


A Homemade Hero

by Illeana Starbright (SunlightOnTheWater)



Series: Justice League Beginnings [1]
Category: DCU (Comics), Superman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Origin Story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:28:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26705251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunlightOnTheWater/pseuds/Illeana%20Starbright
Summary: In which Clark Kent becomes the Earth's first real superhero quite by accident, and somehow manages to get the girl. (Really, Lex Luthor has only himself to blame.)
Relationships: Clark Kent/Lois Lane
Series: Justice League Beginnings [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/193844
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	A Homemade Hero

_"Home made me love a dirt road/ Home made me crave some ice cold homemade/ Sweet tea only Momma knows how to make/ Yeah homemade" -from Homemade by Jake Owen_

* * *

Clark Kent grew up in an old two story farm house in Kansas, spending summers running wild through the yard and fields and helping out with chores. He wasn't born there. Clark was the last remnant of a doomed planet, sent in to space by his biological parents to preserve his very life. That had had landed in the yard of Johnathan and Martha Kent had been sheer good fortune and, as an adult, Clark was thankful on a daily basis for that miracle. Not that he hadn't been grateful as a child, but his young life hadn't quite been smooth sailing. He had loved his parents, biological or not, and adored being able to fly, but part of him had longed to be normal. He'd wanted to play football and not have to worry about being infinitely stronger than everyone else on the field, wanted to sit in class and not be distracted by some conversation going on two miles away on the side of the road. He'd never voiced those thoughts to his parents, feeling selfish every time he considered doing so, but they seemed to know where his mind had gone despite his silence. On those days Ma would shoo him out of the house almost as soon as he got home from school, sending him into the sky under the guise of finding the next storm systems. He'd fly for hours, returning home at dusk to warm food and Ma pulling a fresh pie out of the over, his worries and discontent long faded under the pure joy of flight.

The habit of going for a flight when he was sad or upset or worried had lingered into adulthood, though Clark had to be more careful about it now. Metropolis was a bustling city, and the last thing he wanted was for someone to find out that the city's new hero, Superman, was really Clark Kent. He'd be overwhelmed by the resulting attention, left without a chance to find people who liked just plain old Clark. That kind of life would never leave him with a chance to spend weekends with his parents or give him time to gather up the courage to ask bold and beautiful Lois Lane out on a date. Clark saved people because he believed that having the power to help meant he should do so, but his best memories all involved being Clark Kent.

Part of being plain old Clark Kent was his job as a journalist at the Daily Planet. He taken a journalism course on a whim at college and had enjoyed it far more than he'd expected. The position at the Daily Planet was his dream job. Working at a small paper allowed him to take all different kinds of assignments, rather than just specializing in one aspect, and the paper itself was still proving that print was alive and well as a news medium. It also introduced him to Lex Luthor. Luthor was charming and almost infallibly polite in a polished, put together way that country raised Clark couldn't quite fathom. All through his first interview with the man, Clark couldn't shake the feeling that he was looking at a very poised mask, a thought that was only reinforced by the way Lois grumbled for days whenever she had to go interview the "slimy, glad-handing corporate shyster," and that was before Luthor set himself up to be Superman's archenemy. Still Metropolis was relatively peaceful in those early days, in a way that made Clark later question whether the mere existence of Superman was making things worse, and the possibility of being some kind of comic book style superhero hadn't even crossed his mind before the first robot was unleashed. After all, Superman was as much a product of LexCorp as any of Luthor's other creations, even if the man didn't want to admit that.

It all started with a woman accidentally falling out of the sixth story window of her apartment building, just two blocks down from the Daily Planet. Clark had been walking back from a local deli with a bag full of sandwiches, ordered in the morning by Perry as a treat for the office, when he'd heard the screaming. His childhood, full of reminders from his parents about always lending a helping hand when he was able, had spurred him into action and before he had really thought about what he was doing, he was flying. He'd caught her just below the windows of the fourth story and carefully deposited her shaking form in the empty alley next the building. Before she could even gather herself to turn and thank him, Clark had fled. He'd been shaking almost as badly as the woman had.

By the time he returned to the Daily Planet with the sandwiches, a half an hour later than he should have, the office had resembled and overturned anthill. Jimmy Olsen had been waving his phone around shouting to anyone who would listen that people all over social media were claiming they'd seen a flying man rescue a woman who'd fallen out of a window. Lois, who had twelve separate tabs open at once on her computer, was steadily compiling a list of notes from the ongoing news coverage and whatever social media tidbits she determined to be worth her notice. Perry was everywhere and nowhere at once, darting to look over shoulders as he tried to get a better picture of what was going on. Clark, still shaken and overwhelmed and holding the bag of sandwiches, asked, "What did I miss?"

Instantly he had twelve people in various states of almost hysterical excitement and confusion shouting answers to him. Cathy, the Daily Planet's secretary, finally broke through the cacophony to cry, "Some kind of superhuman man flew out of nowhere to catch a woman who fell out of the sixth story window of her boyfriend's apartment and then he just vanished."

"Oh," Clark said, beginning to feel like he was having a very strange out of body experience. "So there's some kind of superman hiding in Metropolis?"

Lois's eyes gleamed with almost feverish excitement as her head snapped up to stare at him over the top of her laptop. "You're brilliant, Clark! That's exactly what we'll call him," she exclaimed, scribbling something so fiercely onto her pad of paper that she almost ripped right through it.

"What?" Clark asked dumbly, feeling the beginnings of dread stirring in his stomach.

"Superman!" Lois exclaimed triumphantly, practically springing from her seat. "Perry, I'm going out to interview the rescued woman. I'll be back with the scoop in an hour." Then she rushed out the door, pausing only to give Clark a brilliant smile before leaving only the vanilla scent of her shampoo behind.

"Clark, why don't you be a dear and put the sandwiches in the break room?" Cathy suggested, noticing that he seemed too stunned to move. Clark nodded robotically and went to do as he was told, all the while trying to calm his racing mind. Surely this whole thing would blow over in a couple of days. Before long Lex Luthor would unveil some new innovation and Metropolis would forget all about Superman.

* * *

Metropolis did not forget about Superman. Instead the mysterious rescuer of one April O'Donald remained front page news for three weeks after his heroic rescue of her, even overshadowing the unveiling of LexCorp's newest technological wonder. Lois, at a press conference for the reveal of Lex Luthor's entirely solar powered factory robots, asked the man himself what he thought about Superman. In a fit of entirely unexpected pique, Luthor had snarled, "Superman is just some comic book fanatic's urban legend. He doesn't exist." That was completely untrue. Half a dozen people had gotten pictures or video of the blurry and mostly unrecognizable figure of Clark Kent swooping in to rescue April, though no one had yet figured out that it was Clark in any of the images. Having spent his entirely life hiding the fact that he wasn't an ordinary human from everyone but his parents, Clark was constantly overwhelmed by the dual desires to laugh hysterically and to burst into tears.

Lois, who had spent every spare moment combing the videos and images online for evidence about who Superman might be, had scoffed at Luthor. "Superman's as real as you or I," she'd said, the entire conversation captured by one of the public television cameramen and broadcasted for the world to see. "You just don't like being outshined." Luthor had visibly ground his teeth together before calming enough to move to the next reporter. Sometimes, on his worst days, Clark questioned whether Lex Luthor being a villain was entirely his fault.

Finally, worn thin and entirely stressed out, Clark gave in and called home. "I hear there are all kinds of interesting things going on in Metropolis," Ma said the moment they got their greetings out of the way.

Clark let out a stressed laugh at that. "Yeah, Ma. There are." His voice wavered, just a little.

"Oh Clark," Ma said, voice soft and warm and fond.

"What am I going to do, Ma?" He asked, shoulders shaking just a little. "I don't want to be a hero." For the first time in his life, he dared to voice the thought that had haunted him since childhood. "I want to be ordinary."

"Oh Clark," Ma said again. "Someone ordinary wouldn't have been able to act in time to save that nice young lady. I know it's so, so hard to be different than the people around you, but different isn't bad. What you've done is wonderful and extraordinary, and your father and I are so, so proud of you."

Clark sniffled a little and smiled. "Thanks, Ma."

"Anytime, sweetie," Martha Kent said. "Now would you like to talk to your father?"

Clark agreed, and passed a peaceful twenty minutes chatting about the weather and the crops with his father. Just before they said goodbye, Jonathan Kent said, "Good job out there, son." Clark hung up the phone feeling far more optimistic than he had earlier. Two days later, just as the news was about to die out, the first robot went on a rampage.

* * *

Clark was leaving the office for the day, having worked late the night before covering a baseball game that had gone into extra innings, when he heard the screaming. He broke out into a run. He rounded the corner in time to see a massive blue and silver robot rip the sign for Frank's Deli out of the concrete and swing it into the shimmering windowed tower that held the LexCorp offices. Shards of glass tinkled to the ground in a deadly ran as people fled screaming. Clark found himself unable to turn away as the robot drew back for another swing as people fled in the offices like ants fleeing a flooded anthill. In the midst of the panic he heard a woman's voice shriek, "Superman, save us!"

Part of Clark desperately wanted to stand by and preserve his anonymity, but he knew he could not. Clark rose into the night, ripping the sign out of the robot's hands. It turned on him almost instantly with a vicious flurry of punches. Clark dodged, nimble and graceful in the air after so many years of flying. He circled around the robot, dodging and ducking and weaving as he made absolutely certain that there was no human pilot. Then he swung the sign like it was a baseball bat, sending the robot stumbling back to land in a heap in an empty alley. One arm twitched slightly and Clark hit it again. It ceased moving. Clark dropped the sign on top of it and quickly took off, soaring high into the sky hoping that no one had gotten a clear picture at him.

The next day Superman was back to being front page news and Lois was pouring over every video of the incident with half of the Daily Planet's staff peering over her shoulders. Clark nearly choked on his drink when, halfway through typing up his latest article when Intern Maddie suddenly said, "Hey, doesn't Superman look a lot like Mr. Kent from this angle?"

"Nah," Jimmy said after a moment. "There's no way. The hairstyle's all wrong."

"That's because of the speed he's flying at," Maddie protested indignantly. "Besides, the jaw shape's right."

"Been staring at his jawline much?" the other intern, Adam, teased and Maddie flushed pink even as she scowled at him.

"Tell me I'm wrong," she challenged determinedly while Clark coughed a couple of times, hoping that they weren't about to peg him as Superman.

Adam flushed awkwardly, apparently not able to disagree with Maddie, but Jimmy dismissed the notion outright saying, "No way. Clark's too nice to go around beating up robots with deli signs, even clearly evil robots." From her position at the computer, Lois made a vague thinking noise that sounded sort of like agreement and moved on to the next video, gaze intently fixed on her laptop's screen. The conversation switched tracks then to trying to figure out why Superman had spent so much time flying around the robot before knocking it down. Clark turned his attention back to his mostly finished article, mind racing. If he was going to keep doing this, he'd need some way to hide his identity. Maybe his mother would have an idea about how to do that.

* * *

Martha Kent did, in fact, have an idea on how to hide his identity, and Clark wasn't thrilled with it. When he'd called, she'd told him, "Oh I have just the thing put together. Why don't you fly over for dinner tonight and I'll show you?" Clark had agreed, all too happy to be going home after the chaos currently invading his life in Metropolis. He'd remained happy and relaxed until Ma had placed a large white clothes box in his lap after dinner before bustling off to fetch the apple pie.

Clark opened the box to find what looked like an adult Halloween costume. It was a single piece of dark blue spandex with a red emblem in the center that held a single dark blue S. "Ma, what is this?" Clark yelled as his father chucked into his coffee.

"The solution to your problem, dear," she replied, bustling out to place slices of pie in front of both of the Kent men. Jonathan chuckled into his coffee while Clark gaped at his mother.

"This isn't a solution, it's a Halloween costume," Clark protested.

"You're a superhero now, Clark," she told him matter-of-factly. "Whether you want to be or not. Everything you've done to save people lately has earned you that title, so you might as well lean into it. Besides, no one would ever imagine that Clark Kent would wear that, even as a Halloween costume." Clark, who had last dressed up as a superhero when he was eight, nodded weakly and his mother smiled at him. "Now finish up your pie, and then you can see if that fits." Clark had no desire to try on the costume, but he knew that arguing with his mother at this point would be useless. He finished his pie and then went upstairs to his old bedroom to try it on.

* * *

The robots were coming at an alarming rate now, and clearly learning. At first Clark hadn't noticed when they started ducking, but when they began to dodge and weave his attacks as if they saw it coming from a mile away, he began to worry. Every bit of news media was raving about the amazing Superman, but Clark knew he wasn't infallible, and with the way things seemed to be going, someone would end up hurt the moment he slipped. Ma told him not to worry, that it something bad was coming then it was coming and fretting about it wouldn't change that, but Clark couldn't help himself. He'd started acting the part of a superhero to keep others safe. If someone got injured because of that decision, he would never forgive himself.

Things came to a head when a robot grabbed Lois in the middle of a LexCorp press conference about the new, green upgrades Luthor was adding when he remodeled his evil robot destroyed office building. A new robot, this one sleek and silver and shining, dropped out of the sky, cracking the ground beneath it as people ran screaming, and snatched up a startled looking Lois Lane. Lois let out a shriek that sounded more like startled fury than fear as Clark scrambled through the crowd, looking for a secluded place where he could pull off his button up shirt and slacks. He'd started wearing the uniform his mother had handed over underneath his work clothes after the third robot had decimated a pizza parlor, the post office, and the front of the bank before he'd managed to get changed and get back.

He launched himself into the sky the moment he was adequately disguised as Superman making a beeline for the robot that was currently pulling a King Kong and climbing the partially reconstructed LexCorp skyscraper while still holding Lois in one hand. Lois seemed to still be unharmed and apparently she'd quickly lost her startlement and moved on to just plain anger. She was yelling furiously at the robot and kicking her feet so hard in her frustration that one of her practical looking black pumps had gone flying off. The robot was ignoring her, continuing to climb higher, but it did not ignore Clark's approach. Instead it turned towards him and fired laser beams out of its eyes. The unexpected shot hit, burning a hole through the shoulder of Clark's uniform but not providing nearly enough power to do anything besides startle him. Clark did what any reasonable man would do at that point; he punched the robot in the face.

The sleek, shiny robot might have been nicer to look at than the hulking behemoths Clark had fought before, and smarter too, but it might as well have been made from tinfoil with how quickly its face caved in. The robot's red eyes went dark and it toppled backwards off the building. When Clark dove after it, hurrying to halt its descent, he found that Lois had started yelling at him. "Sorry ma'am," Clark said when he carefully placed Lois on the ground. Then he flew off before she could lecture him about the proper way to rescue a lady.

* * *

Plain old Clark Kent wandered into the Daily Planet an hour after the attack, looking rumpled and ruffled and clutching his battered notebook as Lois was dusting off her skirt. "Sorry Lois," he apologized sheepishly. "I couldn't find you after the attack."

"It's okay, Kent," Lois said, waving him absently off as she wobbled about on one heel. "Superman dumped me off with the robot behind Luthor's ugly as sin skyscraper and you probably got pushed away from the crowd."

"Still," Clark said earnestly. "I wish I could have done more to help you." Then sudden inspiration hit. "Let me make it up to you. What do you say to dinner?"

"Are you asking me out, Smallville?" Lois asked with a suddenly sly smile. Clark blushed and then silently cursed the fact that his alien biology still let him blush.

"Yes, I guess I am."

"Take me over to my apartment to get a new pair of heels and you've got yourself a deal." Clark beamed. Things were beginning to look up.

**Author's Note:**

> Though it's never explicitly stated, the robots belong to Luthor, who was doing God knows what with them. Instead of getting the desired result, he created Superman.
> 
> This may feel a little open ended but it is a one-shot, in part because Clark is a struggle for me to write for long periods of time. It was a fun experience for this story, but also a relatively slow one. Still, I definitely wanted an introduction for Clark in this series, since he's set up as the original caped crusader. Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
